Process for stabilizing the flavor and odor of fatty materials



Patented Dec. 4, 1934 r A I I PROCESS FOR STABILIZING THE FLAVGR AND ODOR OF FATTY MATERIALS Eddy W. Eckey, Wyoming, Ohio, assignor to The Procter & Gamble Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio No Drawing. Application August 22, 1932, Serial No. 629,887

13 Claims. 01. 99-11) This invention relates to the treatment of fats precede treatment by my process. Exception to and oils for the purpose of improving odor and this last rule may arise when my process is used flavor, particularly stability of same. to stabilize fatty materials during storage other Almost any fat or oil of good quality either than temporary storage prior to deodcrization,

5 is of pleasant and mild odor and flavor without but even in such a case it is desirable to apply my special treatment or can be brought to such treatment again at some stage following the cusa condition by suitable processing, particularly tomary bleaching treatment, preferably after steam deodorization. However, oils and fats deodorization. on exposure to air tend to-become oxidized, and Protection of the oil from air during the sta- 1 such oxidation quickly causes development of bilizing treatment is desirable and may be secured, to

an inferior flavor, and eventually may result in for instance, by use of a vacuum or a blanket extreme rancidity. of inert gas. Agitation may be effected by any It has already been proposed 'to stabilize fatty known means, steam agitation being quite satmaterials against oxidation and resulting changes isfactory if the process is carried out under 15 in odor, flavor, etc., by incorporating therewith vacuum. certain organic or inorganic acids. Particular The pulverulent material is preferably of an ref ren is m to y copsnding ppl i n absorbent nature. It should be substantially in- Ser. No. 62 ,891, filed A ust 3 Which ert chemically towards acids or fatty materials. discloses desirable antioxidant effects obtained, It may or may not have bleaching properties 20 f in y e of l han .01 p r c n f toward fatty material. For instance, kieselguhr, phosphoric acid In app a i Seri o. 7, bleaching carbon, inactive carbon, fullers earth 618, fi ed Allgk 1932, Richardson, Vibrens, a and other siliceous minerals are suitable for use Andrews have disclosed the preparation as in my process. Powdered solids which have been o idan s o t group of Compounds Comprising previously acid treated and washed are particu- 25 inor ani a i c n nin s a ly bound y n larly suitable, because thereby the tendency toward (i. e., contain oxygen but are not themselves further reaction with impregnating acid is stro oxidizing agents) and th r ac d s l s or eliminated or greatly diminished. Pulverulent esters. Va ious o i ac h also been materials which react chemically with the acid p p f r u a an xid n s in fatty maantioxidant or with the oil should, or course, not I I 30 terial, for example, tartaric acid. be used.

The Present invention provides an improved I prefer to use orthophosphoric acid, but orprocess for using acid a tioxidants on atty maganic acid antioxidants or other inorganic acids terials, without claimin the acid an a t of the class described above, such as sulfuric acid as such, since any one of the acid antioxidants and metaphosphoric acid, may be used. The

35 f r f y material w l, w n used according to acid may be partially neutralized before use, and

my i v n i n, provide he advantages to be 16- may thus consist of acid salt, such as primary soscribed. My objects are to p ov d a safe and dium phosphate, but the-acid salts are not in convenient method for contacting oil and antigeneral so effective as the original acids from oxidant, H and also to obtain even greater imwhich they are derived.

40 provement in the stability of the fatty material The proportion of acid to kieselguhr or other thanis ob y e simple addition of antisolid may vary within wide limits. Ordinarily I oxidant alone. use not less than 5% acid in the treating mixture,

Briefly stated, my process consists of treating but may use less, especially when the pulverufatty m r simultaneously w h a p wd lent material is desired asafllter-aid independent 5 solid and an acid antioxidant. In its preferred of it use for stabilizing the fatty material in acform, the process is carried out by first adding a cordance with my invention. Any proportion of substantial proportion of an acid antioxidant to acid may be conveniently used up to the amount a pulverulent material and then agitating this that causes lumping of the solid material and mixture with the oil or fat after the latter has consequently retards distribution of the treating 50 been deodorized with steam and cooled to about mixture throughout the fatty material. In gen- 150 C.or lower. My process may also be carried eral, 5 to 20% acid in the treating material is my out immediately following, during, or preceding preferred range, but my invention is by no means deodorization and may also be used to advantage limited to exactly this range. on undeodorized fats, in which cases the common The proportion of treating material to oil or 55 bleaching treatments, if any, should ordinarily fat may likewise vary within wide limits. It is seldom advisable to use more than one part of the treating mixture to 1000 parts of fatty material, but my invention may be practiced with even a larger proportion. In general I prefer to use in the neighborhood of one part of the treating mixture to 10,000 parts of fatty material.

While bleaching materials such as carbon and fullers earth are convenient forms of powdered solids for use in my invention, it should be understood that any bleaching action which they exert during the carrying out of my process is purely incidental and negligible in comparison with the stabilizing effect of the process.

This will be the more readily understood when it is remembered that the maximum amount of treating material required in my process is rather less than the minimum amount of absorbent bleaching material heretofore used in the treatment of oils and fats for decolorization.

Instead of premixing the mineral acid with solid material as described above, my invention may be alternatively carried out by adding the acid and solid material separately to the fatty material to be treated.

The fatty material containing the treating mixture is filtered at a suitable temperature in accordance with conventional methods or otherwise processed "so that all or practically all of the solid material is removed. Owing to the minute amount of acid used relative to the fatty material, it is difficult to describe accurately what happens to the acid during the process. Apparently it reacts at least in part with impurities in the oil and is held by the surface of the solid material. 1 Regardless of the correctness of the above exanation, I have found that the process herein described results in an even greater improvement in the quality of the fatty material treated than is obtained by the use of acid antioxidants alone. The improvement is many fold greater than can be obtained merely by filtering the fatty material, or by merely filtering it with kieselguhr, carbon, or the like.

Ezample:7 parts of syrupy phosphoric acid and 93 parts of kieselguhr are mixed together until the mixture has approximately the free flowing properties of the original kieselguhr. This powder is then mixed with freshly deodorized refined cottonseed oil' in a closed tank mechanically agitated at 100 C. After cooling to 60 C., the oil is filtered. After exposure to air, the flavor of this oil is very much better than that of the same oil not similarly treated.

Other vegetable oils, including those processed as salad oils, hydrogenated vegetable shortenings, and lard substitutes of the type commonly called Compound", also various animal fats including unbleached and undeodorized prime lard, show similar improvement in varying degree when treated according to the process described herein.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure'by Letters Patent, is:

1. The process of treating fatty materials to stabilize odor and flavor which comprises mixing therewith substantially inert pulverulent material and acid having antioxidant properties toward fats, and thereafter removing at least the major portion of pulverulent solid from the fatty material.

2. The process of treating fatty materials to stabilize odor and flavor which comprises mix ng therewith pulverulent absorbent bleaching material having no chemical action towards acids or said fatty materials and acid having antioxidant properties toward fats, said treatment being subsequent to any of the usual bleachingtreatments that may be required for decolorizing said fatty material, and thereafter removing at least the major portion of pulverulent absorbent bleaching material from the fatty material.

3. The process of treating fatty materials to stabilize odor and flavor which comprises mixing therewith after deodorization substantially inert pulverulent material and acid having antioxidant properties toward fats, and thereafter removing at least the major portion of pulverulent material from the fatty material.

4. The process of treating fatty materials to stabilize odor and flavor which comprises simultaneously mixing therewith during deodorization substantially inert pulverulent material and acid having antioxidant properties toward fats, and thereafter removing at least the major portion of pulverulent material from the fatty material.

5. In the processing of fatty material, the step which comprises simultaneously mixing therewith prior to storage substantially inert pulverulent material and acid having antioxidant properties toward fat.

6. The process-of stabilizing the odor and flavor of fatty materials which comprises treating same with substantially inert powdered solid mixed with acid having antioxidant properties toward fat.

'7. The process of stabilizing the odor and flavor of fatty materials which comprises treating same with pulverulent absorbent bleaching material having no chemical action towards acids or said fatty materials mixed with acid having antioxidant properties toward fat, said treatment being subsequent to any of the usual bleaching treatments that may be required for decolorizing said fatty material.

8. The process of stabilizing the odor and flavor of fatty materials which comprises treating same after deodorization with substantially inert pulverulent material mixed with acid having antioxidant properties toward fat.

9. The process of stabilizing the odor and flavor of fatty materials which comprises treating same during deodorization with substantially inert pulverulent material mixed'with an acid having antioxidant properties toward fat.

10. In the processing of fatty material, the

step which comprises treating same prior to storage with substantially inert pulverulent material mixed with an acid having antioxidant properties toward fat. 11. The process of stabilizing the odor and flavor of fatty materials which comprises treating same with a mixture of acid having antioxidant properties and substantially inert pulverulent material previously acid washed.

12. The process of stabilizing the odor and flavor of fatty material which comprises treating same with substantially inert pulverulent material mixed with more than 5 percent of an acid having antioxidant properties.

' 13. The process of stabilizing the odor and flavor of fatty material which comprises treating same after deodorization with a mixture of substantially inert pulverulent material and phos 

